How to Actually use all Those Vacuum Cleaner Attachments!

Vacuum cleaner attachments can be pretty confusing, especially if your vacuum comes with a lot of really fancy ones like my Dyson. Here’s a run down of what each Dyson attachment does!

What do you usually do with all of those vacuum cleaner attachments, gizmos and doodads?

If you’re anything like how I was, then you probably just toss them into the back of a closet or a cupboard and leave them there, thinking you don’t have time for figuring them out. Back in my dark days of trying to ignore that the vacuum even existed, I would only ever use the big main motorized attachment if I actually hauled it out and used it at all.

Of course I saw Chris using a few of the attachments here and there, because he’s a vacuum fiend, so I started to learn the basics, but mostly I just thought “what difference can they really make?” and forgot about them.

Here she is fresh out of the box on her first day at home. Ain’t she purdy? 🙂

So, anyway.

My Dyson came with all of these different attachments and so I thought I might just have to rethink my vacuuming game. I mean, we’re talking about the king of sleek and efficient vacuums here, surely they wouldn’t have included anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary and amazing. So I got to work using every attachment all over the house.

The Family of Dyson Attachments

Most vacuums come with quite a few tools very similar to these, so if you don’t have this exact vacuum, these tips will still totally make sense for you!

This first attachment is the one that gets used most often by vacuum owners. It spins super quickly and is meant to pull up all kinds of dirt and mess that gets trapped into carpets and rugs. That’s pretty much all that you use it for, typically, but it does a fabulous job of it! Some models have different settings for different types of carpet (shag, berber, etc.), but this one doesn’t.

I’ve used it on my regular plush carpet, shaggy area rugs, loopy rugs, fancy rugs, cheapo rugs, and it does a perfect job on all of them.

This one is a mini version of the previous spinning carpet attachment. This one can be used on carpets of course, but here are some other great uses for it:

This attachment is probably the second most often used. In fact, you’ll probably get the urge to get it out almost every time you vacuum, other than those times where you’re just doing a quick touch up. Even then, you might be tempted to just use the crevice tool and its super-focused vacuuming abilities to do your touching up! Here are some of the places where you’ll use this one:

-In gaps between floor boards, under baseboards, and in doorway thresholds

-Inside heating vents

-In the nooks and crannies of your vehicle interior

-Under sofa cushions

Even More Dyson Vacuum Cleaner Attachments

This one actually reminds me most of the hard floor attachment that we used to have for our vacuum growing up. That’s what we used in kitchens, bathrooms, and basement hallways leading out to the garage that were my responsibility to vacuum and mop every Saturday. 🙂 This one’s a little different though and it’s a great versatile little tool. At first I thought something like this might be kind of weak, but it really creates a great suction on whatever surface you’re cleaning and pulls so much off of it. It’s meant for mattresses, but I’ve found it to be super versatile! Here’s how I use it:

-On mattresses (of course!)

-On bedding where a beloved pet has been sleeping

-On windows or large mirrors

-On the seats of chairs

-On throw pillows

This one is almost my very favorite. It’s the one that I’ve always been the most puzzled with and it’s the one that I’ve been using the most now that I’ve figured it out. This one actually allows for the brush part to slide backwards so that you have something similar to a crevice tool too without actually changing out the attachment. Here’s where I’ve been using this one:

-On glass light fixtures

-On appliances

-On electronics

-On mirrors

-On knickknacks

-On flat surfaces

-On books

-On wall art

-On walls

-In the bathroom to remove dust before cleaning it

-On baskets

-On everything! No really, pretty much everything. 🙂

The Best Vacuum Cleaner Attachments For Moms

This last attachment is kind of a special one in that you can only get it with the new Dyson V6 Absolute, but it’s pretty darn amazing for a mom like me with a 13 year old with dried mud crumbling off of her soccer shoes, a 4 year old with an interesting way of eating chips, three pets including the world’s most-shedding dog, and a husband who really loves clean floors.

This thing is specially engineered to pick up every single thing, chunk, or microscopic speck off of hard floors without losing suction and it does it in one pass.

And it gets right up next to cabinets and walls and doesn’t miss a thing. Not a single cheerio, goldfish cracker, or doggy kibble is left behind!

The really exciting thing for me about this specific attachment is that it actually works like it says it does. I know!! What a concept!

Don’t worry though if you haven’t been able to get your hands on the V6 Absolute quite yet (or the newest v10 model) and all of its fancy vacuum cleaner attachments, you will still really improve your vacuuming game and make a lot of your household cleaning chores actually a lot quicker and easier if you just use your vacuum attachments that were provided. Consider yourself now officially acquainted with them!

How about you? Do you make full use of your attachments or do you just ignore them like I did? I’m so curious to know if I’m the only one who’s been in the dark all this time!

Thanks so much to Dyson for sponsoring this post and my other two vacuum-related posts from the last few weeks. I’ve really enjoyed getting to play with my new toy and then chat with all of you about it! As always, all opinions are my own!

Sorry, I was a vacuum repair person for years and I would not spend the money on a Dyson. They WILL loose suction if you don’t clean/replace the filters regularly. Depending on the style they have clutch problems that are costly to repair. I have had to rip them apart be cause the cyclones get full of dust, pet hair and basic dirt.
Some models are also extremely heavy.

I’m with you ALL THE WAY, her, Nichole! I LOVE my SHARK!!!. I have both the Lift Away and the Navigator Pro It’s SO much better than the Dyson! It’s nice and light and a no brainer all the way around! The tools are right there at your fingertips and slip on and off in seconds. I’m dumbfounded that a “Cleaning Pro” doesn’t know what to do with attachments! I switch them out constantly! I’ve been doing THAT since I was a kid back with the old Kirbys. Now it’s just easier (and lighter) with them right there

I really don’t know this person or follow this blog at all–just looking at vacuum stuff now–but I can’t imagine being so rude. You could have said all that you did without saying you are dumbfounded in a way that clearly indicates you think the writer is dumb. Personally, I appreciate the run-down and while it’s fine if she didn’t know, it’s just as likely that it was a literary tool and meant to talk about the attachments many do shove in a drawer without making them feel badly.

Do your research carefully. I have a cordless Dyson V7 and don;’t like it at all. The cylinder fills way too quickly and things get stuck at the intake area – then it shuts off. I get about 5 minutes – that’s all – even under the best of conditions. It’s messy to clean out the container – dust everywhere and that’s exactly what I don’t need with my allergies. Filters have to be washed frequently and on top of all of that, it’s heavy and cumbersome for arthritic hands. You have to hold down the “on” button the whole time you’re using it as well – makes for some significant stress in your hands. I would NEVER buy one again. I’ve gone back to using the old canister Electrolux that is over 50 years old. I wish I had known about the shark vacuums – everyone I know is happy with theirs.

It’s amazing, Erin. I can do almost my whole whole including the back basement steps where the cat litter is on one charge too. I never thought I’d be that girl gushing about a vacuum, but here I am! It’s just really that good. 🙂 So yeah, I recommend it.

I’ve been trying to figure that out for years! I’ve kept them in the basement, under the bed, in a closet, and none of those solutions seemed to work for me at all. I really like where I’ve had them lately though! I have this back hallway off of my master bedroom where we have this wall of cupboards. It’s kind of like a pantry, except I use it to store extra paper towel and shampoo and stuff like that. I just cleared out one shelf of one cupboard and stuck them on that shelf. It’s not finicky or clever, but they have somewhere to go where they’re hidden and not in the way, but I can still see them to use them!

We haven’t gotten our system installed yet, but I was wondering what all of the attachments did. I was thinking that I would use probably one of them, and the rest would just sit around the house gathering dust. I am really glad that you showed us how useful they could be. It will really make cleaning the kitchen a lot easier.

Thank you for sharing!! I have most of these attachments buried in a cupboard 🙂 But I do use the soft dusting brush for my wood blinds. It does a great job at getting most of the dust off them without scratching them. A cloth will usually just rub the dust around. Thanks again!!

another use for the soft dusting tool, and by far my favorite use since purchasing my DC17 many years ago…dusting my Peace Lily! Those giant leaves hold the dust something fierce! With the soft dusting attachment, my vacuum made short work of my giant plant! We got it from my MIL after my FIL passed away a year and a half ago, so keeping it alive and thriving is very important to me.

I also have one of the V6 Absolute’s that I love .I also have the older Animal vacuum that we use in the motorhome that really gets abused and it keeps on going .Its unbelievable how much don’t see that it picks up .Took my ole canister vac to goodwill to get rid of it .My husband is waiting for a Shop-Vac for the garage ,Pat

My vacuum has about a million of these attachments. I can honestly say that I have never tried a single one of them out. Needless to say, I think that it is about time for me to branch out. It totally makes sense that some attachments are meant for spongy carpet and some for shaggy. There is quite a lot of variation of this kind in my house, so I will definitely be trying out these specialized tools!

I have the DC69 and I love it!! I also have a 18 year old Kirby with all the trimmings that very rarely gets used since getting my Dyson. I have never used the mini motor head but I will now! I didn’t get the mattress tool (bummer) but I use the dusting tool just about every day. I want that new attachment for my reclaimed wood floors, I know I wouldn’t worry about scratches with it!! I struggled with storing my unit to make it convenient to charge and grab for touch ups but I didn’t want it out in plain site. Solution: hubby installed an outlet/light switch in my hall closet and hung the mounting plate. Now it’s always on charge, out of site and completely accessible from anywhere in the house 😀

I have had a Dyson Animal vac for 2 years now, and absolutely love it. i have all of these attachments, except for the extra floor head. I have no carpeting in my home, and the one head that came with the vac does a great job on the bare floors. it is the only vac I use throughout the house.
I have all of these attachment, plus a few extra I ordered, stored in a large tote bag, and I hang it in the closet looped over a wooden hanger. works great. thanks for your ideas on using the attachments.

Hi there! I definitely believe there’s no reason that a woman can’t be BOTH a CEO and interested in caring for the home that she loves, if that’s what she’d like to do. The really great part about posts like this one, is that I see a lot of men reading and pinning them as well. So I write these posts for anyone who’s interested, women and men, whether cleaning their home and taking care of their family is their main and only job, or whether the cleaning part is more of a hobby. It’s not a political statement, it’s just vacuuming!

I have a new Dyson 6 with an attachment that I do not how to use. It is a piece that has a plastic curve piece that connects between two other pieces. Please help me to know what to use this attachment for. Thank you
Marilyn

This is great and I love my Dyson but I have a question. What’s the best way to empty the little bin? I have cats and it gets full of hair which doesn’t just come up by tipping it. I end up having to get a knife and scrape it all out. Help!

I know what you mean, Steve! We have two cats and a dog, so all that hair definitely gets trapped in the bin. I actually have a pencil (that I don’t use) just for this use. I use it to reach around and catch everything that gets stuck way up in the top of the bin and also I poke it into the part where you hook up the attachments because that can sometimes get clogged up too. It does the trick!

if you are referring to a Dyson “stick” vacuum, when emptying the bin, click on the button twice in succession, and this will release the bin section. Remove the bin, then it’s easy to just brush off the dust, etc. that accumulates in the bin. when clean, just align back in place and you’re good to go! good luck.

I recently bought a Dyson vac, but we live in the county and a lot of little stones and debris get tracked into our entry. I am afraid to use it on that area. Is the Dyson best for just dust and pet hair?? My other concern is that I can hardly push it across the rug/carpeted areas. What could I be doing wrong? I’m not new to the cleaning game! LOL

Oh my goodness, Pat, I know just what you mean when you say that all kinds of debris can get tracked in! We get gravel, sticks, leaves, stones, dirt, sand, you name it. I use my Dyson on all of it as long as it’s not wet and it always does a great job!

I have eleven (yes 11) Alaskan Malamute house dogs. I have used many brands of vacuum but the only ones that have lasted more than a year are Dysons. They can get pretty gross with 11 large hairy dogs, but they are pretty easy to clean. I’ve accidentally sucked up water, poop shards, and toy fluff with them and as long as you empty any blockages, they keep going. I have 3 different models and they all have their quirks and good and bad points but at least the motors last longer than anything else I’ve ever had.

Searched the literature that came with the Dyson but couldn’t find the different uses for the various attachments. I wanted information on what to use for the carpets and wood flooring as I have both in my home.

I am really happy with the performance of this machine. It is light, versatile and easy to use and now I know what each attachment does, even happier.

I am grateful to have found your instructions for use of the accessories and will now use them to their full potential. Thank you for your help, Dyson should thank you or get you to write their instructions!

My first dyson was the digital slim, and I loved it! It never lost power/suction , or clogged with dog hair, I cleaned the filter when I remembered! I knocked it over yesterday and was devastated, I’d broken a piece off the filter lock, which prevented it from picking up! I went right out, around 3pm Sunday to get a new one! It’s the dyson v6 total clean, and I’m delighted with it! Hubby put it together and I had a little go, amazing, but ran out of power, so I put it on the dock to power up, and this morning went to get it to use, no power! Hubby is in trouble when he gets home, he hadn’t switched it on!!! Can’t wait to have a good go with it! I Googled to check how and where to use the tools, and was pleased to see I had assumed right how to!! Love dyson…!!

We are really torn about replacing our trusty Hoover with a Dyson due to the expense. Plus I’ve heard mixed reviews on pet hair. If price were a concern, do you still think Dyson would be your number one choice?

I just got a Dyson Big Ball Canister Animal that I absolutely love. The attachments (mine came with 10 different ones) are fantastic! I was looking for an good idea to store and move my attachments with me from room to room and your idea with the wine tote sounds like the best one I’ve heard yet. I had them in bucket, but the bristles on the soft dusting brush were getting bent and misshapen from having the other tools piled on top and that attachment is one of my favorite. Thanks for sharing your idea!

Thanks for very details and helpful information. Could you advise on which attachment to clean curtains.
I have DC35 and the suction when using crevice tools is very weak. Is your V6 powerful ?
Regards

I recently took the plunge and bought a Dyson v8 Absolute. My wife and I are very pleased with it so far and it is so convenient and easy to use that I see myself doing much more of the vacuuming than before.
However, I have to say that I think the Users Manual provided by Dyson is abysmal. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but I think Dyson have taken that to the extreme. Sometimes a bit more written instructions to accompany the pictures would be very much appreciated.
Why couldn’t they include suggested uses for each attachment as you have done?

I do not have the V6, but an older model from a few years back (yet to be able to find what model as I see no sticker that is helpful). Mine came with a rotating brush attachment, but nothing specific for solid floors (wood/tile). This brush is GREAT in the carpet and for picking up pet hair, but try to get it to pick up a teeny piece of paper or tiny pearler bead and it kicks it right back up and out at me, or I have to go over it 10 times (literally, 10 times) in order for it to finally suck it up. Any advice?

I just bought my first Dyson, the V8 Absolute Cordless and I ‘absolutely’ love it. I agree with the comments about the Operating Manual though. Why don’t they have a section about the attachments that are included and their suggested uses. That seems like a real oversight to me. Otherwise, I love it’s style and ease to use.

Hi
I guess it depends on the job you want the vac to do. I am a guy who likes convenience and also style. I got a Dyson V6 Fluffy about a month ago and now cleaning is my hobby! No! But yes… I wouldn’t have believed it either but I love Fluffy. I keep it under the bed in the spare room cos I don’t want it mounted on a wall. I keep the tools nearby on a spare shelf.
I only have tiled floors so the Fluffy is perfect. I am also learning to use the tools and they are ok but not that great except the mattress tool that I use often. My child has asthma and bad eczema so I use Fluffy every day for his room and where he mainly goes. The high-quality filtering (I hope) is a comfort as he also has allergies.
So far our apartment is almost spotless despite the rapid daily build-up of “dust” that Fluffy eliminates.
I like the weight of Fluffy and I feel good using it to keep my child in a cleaner environment. I just have a hatred of old-style vacuums cleaners that I associate with drudgery and monotony.
I guess I will have to see how it goes until I can understand the experiences of other users and the things they hate. So far so good.
Thanks for the advice on “tools” as I had no idea what to do with them.